We have been caring for a patient for just over a month, I will call her "Jane Doe". The patient is someone we are all familiar with from past admissions and we have all grown very fond of her and her family. With all of her health complications, she has been mostly bedridden. For a while, she wasn't even able to experience the joy of eating food. Instead, she had been receiving feedings through a tube. She had not even been outdoors in over a month. The Med/Surg floor was busier than ever, there was hardly an open bed on the unit. The call lights continued to ring off one after another and staff came together to deliver excellent care as always.
One particular staff member stood out to me, Brenda Ready. Brenda is the charge nurse who works our dayshift weekend package in DeWitt. Though Brenda had a grueling 12 hours ahead of her, she did it with a smile and stayed cool and collected. Despite how crazy the day had been, she committed to sitting with each of her patients and talked to them about their needs, concerns, and fears. She was running down to the kitchen to get crystal light for a patient who couldn't drink "just water"; she made sure each and every patient was able to walk in the halls or do their exercises, she even took a patient to the waiting room by the picture window to relieve the patient's unrelenting anxiety. I especially took notice of Brenda while she took care of "Jane Doe".
After sitting with this patient, Brenda learned that the patient wanted to venture outside of her room. Furthermore, she learned that the patient had not felt the summer sun in over a month. Brenda gathered the troops and had the patient transferred into a wheelchair using our new maxi-move equipment and took her outside to sit with family and friends and soak up the sun. The patient and her family continue to show their gratitude for staff, especially Brenda who takes such great care of their mom/wife/grandma/sister/friend. This is just a glimpse of what Brenda's care is like each and every day.
Brenda is someone I look up to as a nurse and a person. Her dedication and compassion for her patients are prime examples of why we consistently hear patients say, "I love Genesis DeWitt."